


ten

by AlmondRose



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst, F/M, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Role Reversal, basically mari is a model & adrien is a baker, some fluff i guess??????????????????????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-09 23:37:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14725755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: Marinette grabs Chloe’s backpack.She unzips it and takes the little black box from her own bag.It’s for the best, she tells herself. Chloe’s so much more confident than me.orfive snippets from marinette dupain-cheng (model, aspiring fashion designer, daughter of gabriel dupain, ladybug)'s life, and five snippets from adrien agreste (baker, best friend of nino and alya, chat noir)'s life





	1. Chapter 1

1.

 

“Mari!” a familiar voice calls when Marinette enters the school. Her arms are suddenly full of an enthusiastic blonde who says, “I’m so glad you could make it!”

 

“Me too,” Marinette confesses, and Chloe pulls back and smiles, warmly. 

 

“Let me introduce you to Sabrina!” she says, and she drags her over to the red-haired girl that Marinette had seen in so many pictures. 

 

Sabrina is sweet, and Chloe leads Marinette to her classroom. She’s saved her a seat, right next to her. Sabrina is sitting in front of them, next to a blonde boy in a white jacket. 

 

“You’re Marinette, right?” he says, turning to face them, and Chloe says, “Of  _ course  _ she is. I  _ saw  _ you look her up yesterday, Agreste.”

 

“I’m being polite, Bourgeois,” the blonde boy says. “But yeah, I guess I’d already know that you’re Marinette. I’ve seen your ads, and Chloe was talking about you.”

 

“Nice to meet you?” Marinette says, pushing some hair behind her ear, a little confused. She’s never really been in a room with more than three teenagers before, and never been left on her own for social interaction. She’d hoped Chloe would help, but Chloe obviously has the upper hand, and Marinette reminds herself that Chloe’s known these people for years. 

 

The blonde boy says, “I’m Adrien, nice to meet you too,” and then Madame Bustier walks in the room and everyone falls silent. 

 

She starts calling names and Marinette grabs Chloe’s backpack. 

 

She unzips it and takes the little black box from her own bag. 

 

_ It’s for the best,  _ she tells herself.  _ Chloe’s so much more confident than me.  _

 

She drops the box inside the bag and Madame Bustier says, “Ivan Bruel?” 

 

“Present,” a large, hulking shape of a creature says, bursting into the room. Marinette’s heart sinks into her feet when she realizes that it’s the same creature she’d failed to defeat yesterday. 

 

Everyone in the room shrieks and Marinette clutches Chloe’s bag to her chest as Stoneheart--or Ivan, apparently--reaches out and grabs Chloe right out of her seat. Chloe screams and Marinette says, “Chloe!” but then Stoneheart grabs another girl and bursts through the wall, carrying both girls with him.

 

A girl with reddish brown hair darts after him, and the boy who’d been sitting next to her follows. Marinette jumps to her feet. 

 

What’s she supposed to do?

 

Her best friend’s been kidnapped, and Sabrina’s calling her dad, and everyone’s freaking out, and it’s all Marinette’s fault. 

 

Marinette doesn’t even really process it, but she runs out of the classroom, Chloe’s bag still in her arms. 

 

She turns to the first bathroom she sees, and checks all the stalls before she pulls out the box and opens it. 

 

“I knew you’d come around,” Tikki says, and Marinette puts the earrings in. 

 

“I don’t have time for that,” she says. “My best--my only---friend got taken! I need to help her.”

 

“What a Ladybug thing to say,” Tikki says, and Marinette says, “That doesn’t matter! Spots on!”

 

Ladybug goes out the bathroom window and follows the path of destruction to the Eiffel Tower. Chat Noir says, “Ladybug!” with a surprised gasp when she lands next to him. 

 

“Sorry I’m late,” she says, and Chat says, “Not a problem, my lady,” and Ladybug spins her yo-yo and stares up at Stoneheart, and something squeezes inside her and maybe Marinette is cut out for Ladybug, after all.

 

2.

 

“Back again?” Adrien teases, and Marinette tries to make a face at him. Instead her face grows warm and she knows if she opens her mouth, she’ll stutter. 

 

_ So much for that Dupain charm,  _ she thinks, and she has to speak, so she says, “I n-need more m-macaroons, please.”

 

“You sure do like your macaroons,” Adrien says, leaning over to package some up for her. 

 

“Y-yeah,” she says, watching him. She doesn’t want to be creepy, she just thinks he’s unbearably cute when he’s in the bakery. 

 

“Here you are,” he says, and he slides her the box. 

 

“Thanks,” she says, and he smiles. Marinette makes a valiant effort not to melt. 

 

“No problem,” he says, then while he rings her up he says, “Hey, Nino’s birthday is next week. Do you want to come to the party?”

 

Marinette’s eyes widen. 

 

She’d  _ love  _ to go to a party that Adrien will surely be at, love to hang out with him and his friends. But--

 

“All next weekend I have photo shoots,” she says.

 

“What about Friday night?”

 

Marinette shakes her head. 

 

“I’m sorry,” she says. “Piano lessons.”

 

“Dang,” Adrien says. “Maybe next time.”

 

“Y-yeah,” Marinette says. “Maybe.”

 

She takes her macaroons and goes, clutching the box tight to her chest. 

 

“You didn’t stammer that much,” Tikki says. “I’m so proud of you!”

 

“Yeah, but I rejected him! He probably thinks I’m making excuses because I don’t want to hang out with him,” Marinette says miserably. 

 

“No he doesn’t,” Tikki says. “He probably knows that your father is incredibly demanding.”

 

“Yeah,” Marinette says. “Plus with all the akumas lately--I just wish I could actually hang out, once in a while.”

 

“You’ll get your chance,” Tikki says. “Don’t give up!”

 

“Thanks, Tikki,” Marinette says, and she hopes the kwami is right.

 

3.

 

“But Father—!” Marinette cries, clutching her designs closer to her chest. “Can’t we just try?”

 

“No, Marinette,” her father says, barely even looking up from his laptop. “You’re a model for  _ my  _ designs, not yours.” 

 

“It’s just a hobby,” Marinette says, desperate. “All I need is funds, and I’ll even sew everything, and then Chloe could wear them and Sabrina could take pictures and I could—I could post them online, and then your name wouldn’t even be attached.” 

 

“But then  _ your  _ name would be attached to something that isn’t the  _ Gabriel  _ line,” her father says. “And we can’t have that. You’re famous for your brand loyalty, you know.” 

 

Marinette doesn’t know what to say. 

 

“Could you—could you just—just  _ look  _ at my designs? Please?” 

 

“Marinette, I’m busy,” her father says, and in total frustration, Marinette says, “ _ Mother  _ would look.  _ Mother  _ would even  _ like  _ my designs.” 

 

“Get out,” her father says, his voice cold. “Now.” 

 

“Father—“ 

 

“Now!” he shouts, and Marinette runs. She runs out of his office and into her room, where she drops her designs on her bed and says, “Spots on,” in a quivering voice, and when the warm light of transformation is over Ladybug climbs out her window and yo-yos away. 

 

Ladybug has never cried in costume before, and it feels weird, her tears going over her mask before reaching her cheeks. 

 

_ Dupains don’t cry.  _

 

Ladybug doesn’t care. 

 

When her vision gets too blurry to keep going, Ladybug stops and curls up against a chimney and buried her face in her knees and sobs, and she tries not to be too loud but someone hears her anyway. 

 

“M’lady?” a familiar voice asks, and Ladybug doesn’t look up as Chat sits next to her. “What...what happened?” 

 

Ladybug scrubs her face. 

 

“Nothing,” she says, then she corrects herself. “My dad.” 

 

Chat’s hands curl into fists and he says, “If I knew who your dad was, bugaboo, I would march right up to him and punch him across the face.” 

 

Ladybug tries to laugh. 

 

“I know you would,” she says, and she puts her chin on her knees and they sit together in silence for a long time.

 

4.

 

“Are you upset? About Queen B?” Ladybug asks after a long time, stopping on the next rooftop. Chat flips back across to her roof. 

 

“I’m not sure,” he says. “I understand that we needed help, I guess.”

 

“Yeah,” Ladybug says. 

 

“No, I’m not--I’m not upset,” he says. “I’m just not sure I understand. You know who she is?”

 

“Yeah,” Ladybug says. “I gave her the comb.”

 

“Chloe Bourgeois?” he asks, and she nods. 

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I guess I just don’t get why you gave it to  _ her,”  _ Chat says. Ladybug bites her lip. 

 

“I know she’s...a jerk...but I feel like giving her a little bit of responsibility would help her,” she says. She doesn’t add that Chloe’s still her friend, still so important to her, and that she wants Chloe to be happy and better. 

 

“I suppose,” Chat says, then he takes Ladybug’s hand. “I understand, then. I just wish you’d told me before you did it.”

 

“Yeah,” Ladybug says, and she lets Chat lead her across the roof. “If it helps, she--she gave the comb back.”

 

“Really?” 

 

Ladybug nods and Chat grins. 

 

“Maybe she’s not so bad, after all,” he says, and Ladybug’s glad he approves. 

 

When they reach the edge of the roof, Ladybug gently takes her hand back, then she swings to the next roof. 

 

“Race you to the Tower!” she calls, and she hears Chat curse from behind her. 

 

Ladybug grins and since she has the advantage, shows off with flips and spins as she goes from rooftop to rooftop. 

 

Chat catches up to her, though, and she has to stop so she can beat him there. 

 

Being Ladybug is freedom and fire and everything good Marinette has, and she whoops and hollers to match Chat’s whoops and hollers and they reach the Eiffel Tower together. 

 

Ladybug laughs until she can’t breathe and after she catches her breath she laughs some more, and she says, “Thank you, chaton _ ,”  _ and he grins and says, “Anytime, m’lady.”

 

And she knows he means it, so she laughs harder out of pure joy and he laughs with her and she’s ridiculously, insanely happy. 

 

“You’re my best friend, you know,” she says, and that should be sad, because her best friend is someone who doesn’t even know her real name, but she’s not sad at all.

 

She’s never had a best friend before, not a real one. 

 

“You’re mine, too,” Chat says, and he grins and she grins back, and they go off to race the rooftops until the sun rises, laughing all the way. 

 

5.

 

“M-miraculous ladybug,” Ladybug says, her voice wavering, and she throws the book up in the air and it dissolves and Chat’s hand is tight in hers. 

 

Across from them, Hawkmoth is on the floor, glaring, but his mask is off and Chat has his miraculous and Nooroo is crying and Hawkmoth is Marinette’s dad. 

 

He doesn’t know--nobody knows that Marinette is Ladybug and that’s her dad and Hawkmoth is spitting mad at Ladybug and Chat and Marinette can’t  _ breathe.  _

 

The destruction around them cleans itself and Marinette wants to scream and instead she squeezes Chat’s hand tighter and says, “We have to call the police.”

 

“Right,” Chat says, and he flips open his baton and puts in the call and Ladybug stares at her father and he stares right back. He’s still on the floor and he’s not hurt or anything--the Miraculous Ladybug cleared that--and Ladybug knows he could get up, he just doesn’t care to. 

 

“I just wanted to help my wife,” he says, finally, after Chat’s hung up the phone. 

 

“She’s dead, Gabriel,” Chat says, and Ladybug tries not to choke on her sob. 

 

This is all for her mom, and her dad was Hawkmoth, and--and does he even care about Marinette? He hasn’t mentioned her, hasn’t said that he can’t go to jail because he has a daughter, he hasn’t--he hasn’t. 

 

The police arrive and take Gabriel away, and Ladybug sits on the floor of Hawkmoth’s lair, not really sure what to  _ do  _ now. 

 

“I can take Nooroo,” Chat says, and Ladybug says, her voice hollow to her own ears, “I want to talk to him.”

 

“Okay,” Chat says, and he hands her the brooch, and she closes her fist around it. “Are you--are you okay?”

 

“Not really,” Ladybug says, and her voice cracks and she starts to cry. 

 

Chat puts his arms around her and Nooroo settles on her shoulder, which is a familiar weight and Marinette  _ needs  _ to talk to Tikki. 

 

Her earrings beep and Chat’s ring echoes the sound, and Ladybug says, “We need to--we need to--Marinette--”

 

She doesn’t know why she says her own name, but Chat straightens and says, “Oh  _ god,  _ Marinette,” and Ladybug says, “Go,” and her voice doesn’t waver. 

 

“Are you sure?” Chat asks, and their miraculous beep again. 

 

“Go. Find her,” Ladybug says, and she shoves him gently away. Chat looks conflicted, and Ladybug pushes him again. “Go.”

 

“I’ll find you,” Chat says. “I promise.” 

 

“I know,” Ladybug says, and Chat leaves, vaulting out the window. 

 

“Spots off,” Ladybug says, and she feels empty and afraid when the transformation wears off. She stands up and clutches Nooroo’s brooch tighter. 

 

“Oh, Marinette,” Tikki says, and Marinette says, “Let’s go.” 

 

She goes out the hidden door, and heads downstairs to her bedroom. She falls on her bed, and Nooroo says, “I’m so sorry, Marinette.”

 

“It’s not your fault,” Marinette says, and Nooroo says, “But--”

 

“It’s not your fault,” she repeats, and Tikki says, “She’s right. Don’t beat yourself up over this.”

 

Nooroo sighs, long and loud, and then he says, “It’s good to see you again, Tikki.”

 

“You too,” she says. 

 

“Have you seen Plagg yet?” Nooroo asks, and Tikki shakes her head sadly. 

 

Marinette tries to ignore them, tries to breathe and sort out her jumble of emotions. 

 

_ Dupains don’t cry.  _

 

Marinette has years and years of practice, so she shoves everything far, far down inside her, and stares blankly at the wall. 

 

_ Keep it together, Ladybug.  _

 

“You two should hide,” she says, her voice in a monotone. “Chat could be here any second.”

 

“Right!” Tikki says, and she drags Nooroo to the drawer that Marinette had set up for Tikki a lifetime ago. 

 

There’s a knock on the window and Marinette looks up and Chat’s there, his face grim. Marinette gets up and she braces herself, and she opens the window, and she lets Chat talk, and she pretends it’s a shock, and she doesn’t let herself cry until he’s gone, and her eyes blur with tears and she numbly dials a number, and her words get out between tears, and Chloe says, “I’ll be right there. Marinette, you don’t ever have to go back to the mansion again.”

 

And Marinette packs her bag, and Tikki and Nooroo help, and Marinette goes downstairs and Nathalie is gone, and Chloe’s outside with a limo, and Marinette rides to the Hotel, leaning on Chloe, her hand still clutched tight around the purple brooch. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

1.

 

“Nino and Adrien, can you please sit in the front this year?” Madame Bustier says, and Adrien exchanges a look with Nino, and they head down to the row in the front. “One of you sit next to Alya, please.”

 

Adrien’s never met an Alya before, and when he looks at the girl Madame Bustier is indicating he sees someone new. He looks to the other side of the front and sees Sabrina by herself.

 

He and Nino make eye contact, and have a silent, quick fight over who gets which seat. Nino wins, and Adrien huffs and sits next to Sabrina. 

 

“Why aren’t you sitting next to Chloe this year?” Adrien asks, and Chloe leans down between Sabrina and Adrien from the seat behind them and says, “I’m saving this seat for Marinette.”

 

“Who?” Adrien asks, and Chloe rolls her eyes. 

 

“ _ Marinette Dupain-Cheng? _ The model? The daughter of Gabriel Dupain, as in the  _ Gabriel  _ line of fashion?”

 

When Adrien continues to look at her blankly, Chloe huffs. 

 

“ _ Boys. _ You don’t know anything,” she says, then she flips her ponytail. “Anyway, she’s my  _ best friend _ and she’s coming here this year,  _ finally.”  _

 

“I’m so excited to meet her!” Sabrina squeaks, and Adrien decides he doesn’t care and turns away to try and communicate with Nino. 

 

Unfortunately, Nino is deep in conversation with Alya, and Adrien looks away and at the door, and this Marinette person never comes. 

 

Sometime during class, Adrien googles her from under his desk, misspelling  _ Marinette  _ like twelve times before he figures it out. She has a bunch of pictures, probably cause she’s a model, and she  _ is  _ very pretty. But if she’s friends with Chloe, then she’s probably not any different than Chloe, who isn’t  _ all  _ bad but pretty annoying and catty. 

 

He closes the tab with the pictures of Marinette’s face. 

 

When it’s lunch time, he meets up with Nino who says, “Alya, listen, I  _ have  _ to take you to Adrien’s parents’ for lunch. You don’t  _ understand. _ ”

 

“My parents probably made something special for the first day back,” Adrien says, and Alya says, “As long as it’s food, I’m happy. Lead the way!”

 

And Adrien and Alya haven’t really been introduced, but they’re friends already and that’s just how it is sometimes. 

 

Adrien shows Alya around his house while Nino tries to flatter Adrien’s parents into more food, and when he shows her his room Adrien notices a little black box on his bed. He’s never seen it before but he decides to find it again later, and by the time he’s downstairs he’s already forgotten about it again. 

 

He remembers it after Stoneheart attacks, and his parents make Alya and Nino stay at the bakery, and the three of them head upstairs to his room to wait it out, and Adrien takes the box to the bathroom in case something weird is inside. 

 

Something weird  _ is  _ inside, but Adrien puts on the ring and goes back out to his room with Plagg hiding in his hoodie pocket and Alya says, “There’s no  _ way  _ I’m missing a  _ real  _ superhero fight. I’m outta here,” and she runs downstairs. 

 

“Dude,” Nino says. “I’m going with her.”

 

“I don’t want my parents to freak out,” Adrien says, and Nino says, “Understandable,” before he follows Alya out. 

 

When he’s alone, Adrien says, “Alright Plagg, claws out,” and that’s the beginning of it all.

 

2.

 

“Race you!” Chat calls, and he leaps away. Ladybug yells, “Cheater!” from behind him, but he ignores her and keeps moving. 

 

He never specified where they’re racing, just that they were, so they run around Paris and back until Ladybug stops him by looping her yo-yo around his ankle.

 

He falls, and she lands next to him. 

 

“We can’t keep running forever, chaton,” she says, and Chat squirms. 

 

“We can try,” he says, wiggling, and she laughs and as always, her laugh is like a breath of fresh air and everything good and light in the world, and he loves her so much it hurts. 

 

“We certainly can,” she says, and she unties him and pulls him up and they’re standing so so close together, and he says, “I love you,” without really thinking about it. She laughs and pushes him and says, “I love you too, silly kitty.”

 

He knows she doesn’t mean it  _ like that _ , but he’s so grateful to have her at all, even if it’s not everything he wants to have. Anything from Ladybug is everything. 

 

So he grabs her hand and says, “Dance with me, m’lady,” and she laughs and lets him twirl her, her long ponytail making a graceful arc behind her head. 

 

They dance to a music nobody but them can hear, and on nights like this Paris is theirs for the taking. 

 

“Let’s do something,” Chat says. 

 

“Like what?” she asks, and he says, “I don’t know. Anything. Let’s go see a movie.”

 

“Like this?” she says, gesturing to her costume, and he nods. 

 

“Why not?” he says, and she laughs. 

 

“Why not, indeed?” she says. “Let’s go.”

 

And he hadn’t really thought she’d say yes, but he’s so glad she did, and they head to the movie theater by his house, and pick something scary because the suit makes him feel powerful and Ladybug by his side makes him feel unstoppable. 

 

Chat doesn’t normally go for horror movies but--it’s not bad.

 

3.

 

“You’re getting better at that,” Adrien’s dad says, and Adrien smiles up at him. 

 

“Yeah?” he says, before he returns his attention to the cake he’s icing. 

 

“Definitely,” Adrien’s dad says. “You have an attention to detail that really helps.”

 

“Thanks, Dad,” Adrien says, beaming, then he sets down the icing tube and goes to the oven and takes out the macaroons. 

 

“We’ve been going through a lot of macaroons lately,” Adrien’s dad says as Adrien closes the oven with his foot. 

 

“Yeah, Marinette from school keeps coming to get them,” Adrien says. “Plus they’re just good.”

 

“Very true!” Adrien’s dad says, then he pats Adrien on the shoulder and says, “Well, I’ll leave you to it.”

 

Adrien grins at him and puts the tray of macaroons down, and Plagg flies out of his apron pocket. 

 

“Blech,” he says, flying down to inspect the macaroons. “How can anyone eat anything so sweet?”

 

“People enjoy them,” Adrien says. “And not everyone likes living only on wallet-draining smelly cheese.”

 

“People should,” Plagg says, and he picks up a macaroon. “It’s  _ good. _ ”

 

“It’s also the reason why I’m  _ broke,” _ Adrien says, and Plagg licks the macaroon in his hands, then he drops it. 

 

“Bleeugh!” he cries, and Adrien laughs. “Don’t laugh at me!”

 

Adrien finishes up with the macaroons, and he brings them to the front, where his mom ruffles his hair and says, “Your friend should be in soon.”

 

“Maybe,” Adrien says, and he glances at the clock. He never really gets to talk to Marinette outside of when she comes to the bakery, and he wants to talk to her more. 

 

He leaves the macaroons with his mom and goes back inside to finish icing the cake. Plagg comes back out of his pocket to watch. 

 

“Making things always seemed more of Ladybug’s style,” Plagg mumbles. “What with the creation, and all.”

 

“Cake is made to be eaten,” Adrien says, and Plagg seems to accept that answer. 

 

When Adrien brings the cake out to the bakery to be put on display, he sees Marinette in the back of the line. 

 

He lifts his hand to wave at her, and she turns a brilliant shade of red and waves back. 

 

4.

 

“You coming?” Adrien calls, and Marinette exchanges another look with Chloe before she runs after him. 

 

“Sorry,” she says when she catches up. “C-chloe wanted me to t-talk about our upcoming photo shoot.”

 

“Does she model with you?” Adrien asks, and she says, “S-sometimes.”

 

Adrien doesn’t say this, but he thinks it’s cute that she stammers. She’s a model who’s insanely popular with like, all of Paris, but she stammers when she talks and blushes a lot and Adrien thinks it’s cute.

 

He doesn’t say that, though, because his heart belongs to one girl and although Marinette is cute, she isn’t that girl. 

 

“Does she want to come to lunch?” Adrien asks, ignoring the looks that Alya and Nino give him. 

 

“ _ Dude,”  _ Nino hisses, and Marinette says, “N-no, I think she has other plans. One, one day though, I’ll take her t-to your p-parents’ bakery. She’d l-like it.”

 

“Really?” Adrien asks, because Marinette is the resident Chloe expert and he bakes like half the stuff in the bakery and everyone knows Chloe’s a snob. Marinette nods and Adrien smiles and she blushes, and they turn the corner to the see Agreste bakery. 

 

“Back again for more macaroons, Marinette?” Adrien’s mom asks when they walk in. Marinette’s already-red face gets redder, and Adrien laughs and Alya says, “Girl, even  _ I  _ know about your obsession with Adrien’s macaroons.”

 

“They’re good,” Marinette mumbles defensively, and Nino pats her on the back. 

 

“They sure are,” he says, and he gives Adrien the  _ look  _ that says,  _ I told you she’s in love with you.  _

 

For the better part of the year, Alya and Nino have been trying to convince Adrien that Marinette’s in love with him, which is impossible because Adrien’s just a baker and Marinette’s a  _ model  _ and he’s already in love with one unattainable girl and he knows Marinette enough to know that her dad would  _ never  _ let her date him. And Ladybug’s always on the corner of Adrien’s mind and Marinette doesn’t deserve someone who’s not 100% dedicated to her. 

 

Besides, maybe Alya and Nino are wrong and she’s  _ not  _ in love with him.

 

Adrien gives Nino a  _ look  _ back, and Nino shrugs and they go behind the counter to get lunch. 

 

“My dad would kill me if he knew I was breaking my diet,” Marinette says through a mouthful of food, and Adrien and Nino exchange a different kind of look. 

 

“You eat macaroons all the time, girl,” Alya says, and Marinette says, “That’s different.”

 

“Breaking it one time can’t be that bad,” Adrien says, and Marinette says, “P-probably.”

 

But she doesn’t take seconds. 

 

They head back to school, and Marinette leaves with a wave and goes over to Chloe, and Alya whispers, “She broke her diet for you,” in a sing-songy voice.

 

“Honestly I’m pretty sure she’d break her diet for  _ anyone _ ,” Adrien says, and Alya raises her eyebrow. 

 

“Whatever,” she says. “I don’t see why you don’t just ask her out. You like her, yeah?”

 

“She’s nice,” Adrien says, and the bell rings and they head inside. “But she’s just a friend.”

 

5.

 

“You okay?” Chat asks, like he’d asked every day for the last week. 

 

Hawkmoth is gone and Ladybug--something’s up, with her, and Chat can’t figure out what it is. 

 

Ladybug shrugs and Chat sits next to her and she leans on him. 

 

“My dad’s in jail,” she whispers against his shoulder. “And he hasn’t asked to see me in all the time he’s been there.”

 

“M’lady….” Chat says, shocked. 

 

“And he went to jail for my mom,” Ladybug says, her voice shaky. “And he hasn’t even asked for me.”

 

“Do you--do you have a house? A place to stay?” Chat asks. He would reveal his identity to her in a heartbeat if it meant helping her and letting her come to his house and stay. 

 

“Yeah,” Ladybug says. “I have friends. I just--I can’t stop thinking about my dad.”

 

“So he was jailed recently?” 

 

“Yeah,” Ladybug says. “I’m--I don’t know what to do.”

 

And she starts to cry and Chat turns, wraps his arms around her. She leans into his shoulders and the bell on his costume knocks against her head and he holds her.

 

He’s not sure how long they sit there before she sighs into his shoulder. 

 

“Being Ladybug is everything to me,” she says. “You’re everything to me. And I was so afraid for so long that if I told anyone then Ladybug would get--would be taken away.”

 

“I know,” Chat whispers, because he does. He knows and it hurts and he’s thrown everything into being Chat Noir, and he doesn’t know what he would do if he lost Chat or Plagg or Ladybug. “I know.”

 

“I want to tell you,” she whispers. “I want to know you as a civilian, too. Hawkmoth isn’t--isn’t here anymore, and--”

 

“You don’t have to tell me,” Chat says. “If you don’t want.”

 

“I want to,” she insists, and she finally moves away from him and his chest screams at the lack of her.

 

“Okay,” Chat says, and he’d never really thought he’d get to know her civilian identity, but at the same time he knows it’s been coming. The moment feels right. “Have I--have I met you before?”

 

“Yeah,” she whispers, and she wipes away her tears. “We’ve met.”

 

“I’ve met you, too,” he says, thinking of the akumas their first year of heroing. Ladybug smiles weakly and says, “Good,” and then she reaches for him. 

 

He clutches her hand and he says, “On three?”

 

She nods and says, “One.”

 

“Two.”

 

And together they say, “Three,” and then Chat says, “Claws off,” and Ladybug says something at the same time as him, and there’s green and pink light, and Ladybug’s hair, always in a ponytail, falls around her face. 

 

“Marinette?” he says, and she blinks.

 

“Adrien,” she says, weakly, and he says, “Oh my god, your dad--”

 

Hawkmoth was Ladybug’s dad.

 

She nods helplessly and Adrien says, “I  _ told  _ you about it.”

 

Marinette nods and her face is wet and Adrien gathers her closer. 

 

“About time,” Plagg says grouchily from somewhere behind them, and a high voice says, “Plagg, I love you and I’m so glad to see you, but from the bottom of my heart,  _ please  _ shut up.”

 

And Adrien laughs and Marinette does too, and Adrien can feel everything falling apart around him, but he holds Marinette closer, and maybe everything will be okay. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!!! comments & kudos always welcome!


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